Wonderwall
by TheBeautifulDreamer
Summary: "Cuz maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me... after all, you're my wonderwall." A scared young girl finds herself in a complicated situation and ends up having the adventure of a lifetime. (OC. Slightly AU. Follows 'The Avengers' and 'TTDW'. Will eventually include all the Avengers.)
1. Chapter 1

_**Hey guys, thanks for clicking :) I've just gotten into the Avengers movies and thought I'd take a stab at writing something about them. So basically, this story will travel through a few of the movies, following the adventures of my OC, Holly. I won't give away the story, so you'll just have to read on and find out.**_

_**This chapter and the next will be just introducing Holly, and then things will pick up after that. **_

_**Hope you like :)**_

* * *

><p>In the beginning, there was darkness.<p>

For a few hazy moments after she awoke, there was nothing. She couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't feel. All she knew was that she was alive and awake. Unconnected pictures and words swirled around in her mind, and she was unable to form a coherent thought. And then, through the murky blackness that was her mind, there came sounds.

Just noises at first, muffled and unrecognizable. They gradually became sharper, more distinct, and after a little while she was able make out a few words.

"Boot-up... Slowly... Hear me... Holly..."

That word, 'Holly,' was repeated a few more times. Just as she was starting to recognize the voices, she realized she knew the word, too. It was hers. Holly was her name. And the voices were her parents.

The hopeful voices had faded to worried murmurs just as she tried to grasp them in her mind, which was starting to work again. Not wanting to lose them, she tried to part the darkness that seemed to enfold her everywhere, and briefly wondered if she'd gone blind. No, there was a crack of light. It widened slowly, and then suddenly the darkness was gone and the light was blinding her and she let out something that sounded like a groan, only it sounded nothing like her voice. It sounded more like screeching metal.

But she had no time to dwell on that, for as soon as the sound left her mouth, two heads blocked out the horrible light and she was straining to focus. Her eyes were acting strangely, blurring and sharpening and blurring again, like her camera did when it was having a spaz attack. But her ears were working fine, and she struggled to make sense of the gabble that was coming out of her parents' mouths.

"... Holly, say something. Can you see us? Can you hear us? Can you move your fingers and toes? Holly?"

"Slow down, she won't be able to understand you."

Now that she thought about it, could she move her fingers and toes? She tried and was distantly alarmed that she couldn't even feel them. What had happened to her?

Eyes finally focusing, she stared up at the familiar faces of her parents. Mother, face pale and lined and worn out, bits of hair hanging limply by her ears. Father, frowning and determined, sweaty and exhausted, hair sticking up all over the place, and holding a screwdriver. Wait, a screwdriver? Yes, that's what it was.

She blinked slowly, eyes flicking from one face to the other, as her father placed a hand on her cheek. Another moment of distant panic as she found she couldn't feel it.

"Holly? Can you hear me, sweety?"

She tried to move her head, but her body didn't seem to want to work. So she tried to talk, and though that worked better, all she could get out was a croaky "Yehhgh."

That appeared to be good enough for dad, who turned to mother and grinned excitedly. "She's awake!"

Mother's eyes filled with tears and she clasped Holly's numb hand in hers. "Oh, Holly! I can't believe it worked! My baby's alive!" She broke down weeping and pressed Holly's hand to her lips.

That's right, she had been dying, hadn't she? She vaguely remembered lying on a hospital bed, her parents whispering nonsensical things about brain patterns and electrical charges while she drifted in and out of consciousness. After the doctors had confirmed her limited time left, they had asked her all kinds of strange questions, but she couldn't for the life of her remember what they were. All she knew was that her answers had been yes.

She desperately wanted to know what was going on, but the only sound she could make was an faint "Mmehhl..." She started to panic. Why couldn't she talk? Why couldn't she feel anything? What was wrong with her?

Something beeped out of her view and her father appeared over her again, steady and reassuring. "Its OK, its OK. Don't panic. You're going to have to breathe now. Can you take a deep breath?"

She wasn't breathing? How had she missed that? Actually, that wasn't surprising, seeing as she couldn't feel anything anywhere. She could be suffocating right now and not know it.

"Holly, baby, come on, you can do it. Take a deep breath."

She tried to remember what breathing felt like. She just had to suck in some air, that was all. She knew how to do that. She stared up at the faces above her, concentrating with all her might.

"You can do it, honey." She saw, rather than felt, father slip a hand under her head. "Breathe in. Come on. Breathe. In."

For a moment, all she could see was her father's expression go from hopeful to worried as she failed to breathe. She strained, trying to move her numb chest. And then, it came.

The air rushed through her like nothing she had ever felt before, and a whirring started up in her chest like the beating of a hummingbird's wings. And then her body seemed to spring to life, and she could feel and move and now she was nearly jumping off the table and gasping for breath. She could now feel her fathers other hand supporting her torso as she tried to catch her breath. How had she not been breathing? Now the air couldn't come quickly enough.

Her parents were laughing and crying for joy, and they seemed to crowd her as the expressed what was obviously amazement that she was alive. They were talking at once, asking question after question that she couldn't even hear properly, let alone answer. Finally, Father placed a finger on Mother's lips and both were silent.

"Holly, say something," he asked quietly, taking her hands in his. The sensation felt strange, like half her hand was still numb and the other half had pins and needles. She looked down, puzzled, and saw them for the first time. Saw her hands, which weren't her hands, clasped in her Father's protective grip. Saw her arms, her uncovered chest, her legs. The panic was back, and her father must've seen it, because he squeezed the foreign hands and forced her to look at him.

"Holly, don't panic, OK? Don't panic. You're fine, your safe. Calm down. Look at me. You're alright. Jenny, get me a mirror."

"Are you sure?"

"Mirror, now, please."

Mother was soon back with a small, handheld mirror, shiny side down. Father took it and held it out. "Do you want to see your face?"

Holly nodded, trying to suppress the fear that threatened to consume her mind, and slowly took the mirror. She turned it the right way and held it in front of her face, fingers clenched awkwardly around the frame as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing.

It was her face, but not her face. Her features were there, but her skin was wrong. It wasn't skin at all, but some kind of stretchy rubber or plastic, the same stuff that covered her palms and, from the feel of it, the bottoms of her feet. But around her jawline and continuing down her neck was the same metal that covered the rest of her body. Clean and white and shiny it was, all fine lines and sharp edges at the joints, a few random black markings that seemed to serve no purpose. She touched her chest where she could feel the hummingbird beat deep inside her, too fast for a regular heartbeat, somehow able to feel the light touch through the metal. Shocked and terrified, all she was able to make out was a choked "What?" before she dropped the mirror, metal arms shaking.

"Holly, its OK, don't panic!" Her mother dove for the broken shards of glass as her father tried to pacify her. "I know its a shock, but you agreed to this, remember? You knew what we were going to do. Just breathe, darling, you're fine. Calm down."

She agreed to this? When? How? And what was 'this', anyway?

"W-what happened?" she stammered, her voice sounding strange and mechanical in her ears. "Why do I look like this?"

"It was the only way to save you. Your body was shutting down, and there was nothing the doctors could do. So we downloaded your brain and put in here." Mother tapped Holly's head, smiling proudly. "It took a while, but your father finally managed to get you working. You're state of the art. The first one. You, my girl, are the future."

State of the art. Girl of the future. None of it made sense. "So I'm a... a robot, now? You took my mind and put it in a metal suit and now I'm a robot?"

"Android, not robot," father corrected. "We went through the design specifications with you, remember?"

"No." She shook her head, the movement stiff on her little-used neck joints. This was going to take some getting used to. "No, I don't remember. What happened to me?"

Her parents shared a look, both worried, and Mother spoke up hesitantly. "You did something to yourself- overdosed on your meds, I think- and all of your organs started shutting down. We had barely any time to think, let alone try to keep you alive. So we got everything ready. Your dad already had most of the equipment, and almost everything else came out of his old sci-fi notebooks. When we were ready, we told you what we were going to do, you gave us the go ahead, and so we did it. We saved you."

"Hopefully you should start remembering soon." Dad checked something on a computer screen, tone positive. "Your brain patterns and storage center are mostly intact. There's just a few broken links, but you should make new pathways in a day or two." He hesitated, seeming to weigh up whether he should say the next thing or not, and eventually decided to go on. "However, I would like to run some tests to make sure. You will need to be deactivated for them."

"Already?" Her mother started to protest, but then she stopped herself and sighed, taking Holly's strange metal and plastic hands in her own flesh ones. "Is that alright with you, darling? You'll just be asleep for a while so we can do a few scans and things."

Holly nodded slowly, her mind whizzing with everything she had just learned. It was all so sudden, and she was definitely finding it hard to cope. Maybe sleep was exactly what she needed. Or if not sleep, at least peace.

She let them lay her down again, keeping her eyes fixed on a point on the far wall, and felt her fathers fingers find a switch somewhere behind her ear.

And then, once again, there was nothing.

* * *

><p><em><strong>And there you have it- the first chapter. Please review and tell me what you think. Opinions? Ideas? Suggestions? I'd love to hear them all.<strong>_

_**See you in the next chapter!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. I wasn't sure how to continue this, but I've since plotted out most of the story and now i think I've got it. I think I should tell you now that it will only follow the Phase 1 Marvel movies, not the ones coming up. Just thought I'd put that out there, in case you guys notice any discrepancies in later chapters.**_

_**Who else is pumped for Age of Ultron? Cuz I sure am. I've been watching that trailer and leaked clips over and over. Dis gon be good!**_

_**Anyhoo, lets get on with the story. I don't own Marvel, but Holly is mine :)**_

* * *

><p>The next few days were spent in a strange state between waking and sleeping. At least, she presumed they were days. The light never really changed, and the only reference she had to the time passing was the occasional glimpse of her fathers face staring over her, harried and tired. She became accustomed to drifting in and out of consciousness as her parents worked on her artificial brain, trying to reestablish the connections lost in the transfer.<p>

Artificial brain. In her conscious moments, she still had trouble wrapping her mind around that term. While she was never awake long enough to think about it properly, she was desperate to know what she was missing. How on earth had she gone from flesh and blood human to robot? What had happened? She needed answers, but she would have to wait until she was working properly.

On what she estimated was the fourth day since her activation, she opened her eyes to see both her parents looking down at her, excitement written all over their tired faces. She took a moment to evaluate her mind and found that her parents had done a terrific job. It now felt clearer, sharper, like she had actually had a good sleep for once. God, she hadn't seen felt this good since... since...

She frowned, or tried to. She thought she felt herself make the movement, but when she raised her strange , rubbery hands to her hard shell of a face, there were no irregularities. Her face was expressionless, like a barbie doll. For some reason this scared her more than anything that had ever scared her before. Her hands started to shake.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Father grabbed them and pressed a kiss on the back of her left one. "It's ok, Holly. It's ok. Don't panic. We're here."

She took a deep breath, focusing on the hummingbird inside her chest as it beat faster than a human heart should. Everything about her was wrong, but it was occurring to her that she would have to out up with it. This was going to be her for the rest of her life, and she would have to learn to be grateful. After all, it was either this or death.

At that moment, she wasn't sure which fate sounded worse.

"Holly, can you tell me how you feel?"

How she felt? How was she supposed to answer that? Physically, she felt good. Energized, ready to do anything. The sense of touch in some places and lack of it in others was a bit unnerving, but overall she had nothing to complain about. Mentally and emotionally, though? She was still confused and afraid, trying to make sense of what had happened to her. She could hardly remember anything about her life and was unable to make sense of anything she could remember. And at the back of her mind, there were these feelings of anger and sadness that she couldn't quite place. So how was she feeling?

"Fine," was her well thought out answer.

"Good!" Father glanced at mother, and Holly could see the conflict in both their faces. "Do...Do you remember anything?"

She looked down at their clasped hands, artificial eyes auto-focusing on their extreme differences- his, large and hairy, all uneven skin and red knuckles, and hers, small and white and hard- and tried to think about her life before she woke up in that room.

Slowly, little bits and pieces began to trickle through. The first thing she saw was a flash of orange, and the splash of water.

"I remember a goldfish," she said, smiling at the memory. The quiet scrape of metal and plastic wiped the grin off her face, though, and she put a hand to her lips, feeling the joints and hidden layers around her jawline that allowed her to move her mouth. "A-a goldfish named Rory. He died."

"You were 4." Father squeezed her hand comfortingly. "And you were absolutely devastated."

"It took us forever to convince you to flush him away," Mother piped up.

That one memory seemed to have opened the floodgates. Disconnected pictures flooded her mind and pulsed behind her eyes. She tried to focus on one at a time as insistent beeping started up on one of the consoles near the table.

Mother ran to it and glanced through the readings. "I think she's broken through! Holly, whats happening in your head?"

"I think I'm remembering." She closed her eyes, latching on to one memory and expanding it so that it was playing like a movie behind her eyes . "Did we have a dog called Pluto?"

"Yes!"

"He was an Irish Setter, always so loving, and a great watchdog. I used to brush his hair every night..." Here she faltered as the rest of the memory revealed itself. "He... He was run over by a car. I cried every night for 6 months."

"Yes, the loss of Pluto really hit you hard." Father stood up and smiled joyfully. "Well, it looks like your memories are fixed. Are you ready for the next step?"

"What next step?"

"In your recovery, of course! We need to check everything. Your speech and recollection is perfect. Now it's time for standing and walking. Are you ready?"

"Yes." She let him pull her off the table and gingerly steadied her feet on the ground. When she was sure she was balancing correctly, she let go of his hand and stood up straight.

"Good!" Father clasped his hands together and stepped back. "Can you walk?"

Holly nodded slightly and looked down at her feet, white and shiny, with a sensitive pad on each sole. She remembered walking. She could do this.

She raised one foot off the ground and brought it back down in front of her, then transferred her weight onto it and repeated it with the next foot. And the next, and the next. The pistons in her legs hissed almost imperceptibly as she walked slowly across the room. She could do it.

"Well done, Holly!" Father pulled her into his arms and she awkwardly wrapped her white arms around him. She could feel his warmth enveloping her like a blanket, and for some reason it felt strange to her. But she let it happen, not wanting to let go.

Over his shoulder, she spied a full length mirror attached to the wall. Her arms fell and father turned around and followed her gaze. "That's for you, when you're ready."

"I'm ready," she said.

So he let her go, and she walked, pistons hissing, to the mirror, bracing herself for whatever she might see there.

Her design was smooth for beginners, she'd give them that. She had seen more sophisticated androids in scifi movies, but then this wasn't a movie. Her pistons and connecting cords and joints were a start, and there was always room for improvement.

"I'm very... flat," she murmured, running her hands over her plastic torso.

"Well, we were economizing. And we thought you'd like a more streamlined look." Mother approached her slowly, timidly. "We can always adjust things for you if you're not happy, I mean it's quite easy to alter your form to match your old body. If you want us to."

"This is fine," she reassured her, turning to the side. "Thank you." Leaning closer, she examined her face, noticing the intricate details that allowed her movement. The way her mouth firmed words. The way she opened and closed her eyes, pretending to blink, for that was something wasn't needed anymore. Her eyes were the same boring hazel they always had been, and she thought that maybe she would change a few things after all. She had always wanted green eyes, like her brother. Ethan had gotten all the good features, like the thick curly hair and the tanned skin and the charming grin, while she was stuck with the dull brown hair and the washed out complexion. But then, Ethan had always gotten the good deal of everything.

The hair was authentic and looked fine; it could be changed later if she wanted to. But her eyes... Now those she wanted to change. The urge came from deep inside her and seemed to be connected to the strange sadness that seemed to reside in a corner of her mind that she couldn't access. Or didn't want to. She wasn't quite sure which one it was yet.

"Green," she said unexpectedly. "I'd like to change my eyes to green, like Ethan's." She fluffed her hair, not noticing her parents reactions, beginning to feel a little more comfortable now. "I mean, now I'm able to alter myself whatever way I want. Where is the big idiot, anyway? I thought he'd be here to gloat about my predicament. I'm expecting a lot of terrible robot jokes."

There was a clatter from behind her, and she turned to see her father standing empty handed with a notebook and a screwdriver at his feet, staring at her. Her mother had turned away with a choked sob and was sitting slumped in a chair in front of a computer screen, oblivious to the tools and paper that littered the desk.

"What? What did I say?" Holly took a few worried steps toward her mother, but stopped when a realization hit her. "Oh, wait... Ethan... But... B-but how..." She gasped as the memories hit her at full force, the image of a car wreck swimming before her eyes. "How did I forget that? Oh my god..."

A monitor started beeping as data streamed across its screen, and Father pulled himself out of the tearful silence that had engulfed the room and hurried over to it. His eyes widened as he glanced over the information and then turned to Holly, who was now looking rather unstable on her feet. "Holly, you need to calm down. Do you hear me? Calm down!"

"Whats wrong?" Mother called, wiping her eyes and rushing to Holly's side.

"Her emotional pathways aren't stable enough for the level of emotion she's feeling. If she doesn't get control, her whole neural net could overload!" He tapped a few things out on the keyboard and ran a hand through his hair, his voice tight with suppressed fear. "Talk to her and try to calm her down. I'll try and keep the links from breaking down."

"Holly!" Mother grabbed her shoulders, forcing Holly to look at her. "Please, I know its a terrible thing but please try to stay calm!"

Her arms were shaking now, and the anger and sadness from that corner of her mind were starting to become stronger. "But-But Ethan-"

"I know, I know." Mother started to cry, gripping her shoulders tighter. "I miss him too, but it's in the past. Please, try to calm down."

Holly shook her head quickly, trying to get rid of the building pressure brought on by her strong emotions. "No, mom, you d-don't understand. I-I have t-to t-tell you something-"

"Jenny, she's about to have a cascade failure!" came her father's panicked call.

"What do I do?" Mother cried, trying to keep eye contact with Holly and look at the computer screens at the same time.

"Nothing. I'm going to have to shut her down. Bring her to the table."

"Ok. Holly, come with me."

"B-but mom... Wait, mom! I... I have t-to tell you..." Holly tried to fight, to concentrate, but she didn't seem to be able to get the words out. She let mother drag her back to the table, still protesting faintly, as the pressure in her mind increased and the flurry of emotions threatened to overcome her.

"I'm sorry, darling, but we have to shut shut you down before you burn out your circuits." Mother squeezed her hands and kissed her forehead, then glanced back at Father. "Do it."

Holly clutched her mothers hand, desperate to get the words out. "Wait-"

But father was already typing in the sequence, and the words died on her lips as the pressure released and her mind began to fade.

_"It was me..."_

* * *

><p><strong><em>Ohhh, a little bit of a cliffhanger!<em>**

**_Ok, things may seem confusing now, but it will all come out soon. The next chapter is going to be a bit different, so just hold on. I've read somewhere that readers don't really care that much about an OC cuz they don't know anything about them, but I'll try to keep it interesting enough for all of you :)_**

**_Please review and tell me what you think._**


End file.
